The Buddha was known as The Happy One. Though Joy is one of the Seven Factors of Awakening, with so much emphasis on working with suffering, joy can sometimes seem frivolous or unspiritual. His teaching on attending to the ‘Gladness Connected with the Wholesome’ is a key aspect of Wise Effort and developing a loving heart. We will practice and explore together this foundation for awakening joy.
With James Baraz recorded on January 15, 2023.
Found our teachings useful? Help us continue our work and support your teachers with a donation. Here’s how.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
-
From One, To Two, To Many: The Dharma-Power of Specific Relationships
Recorded :
April 12, 2026 Specific relationships are each a nexus of power in the larger human system. The naturally intense energies and tendencies of the mind are not only amplified and their potency for action accelerated, but specific relationships also function as a vector for proliferation from the individual mind out to other nodes of the system. Relationships are…
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of May 25
We’re fortunate that Martin Aylward has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK this week. To find out more about Martin, and view his other recordings on the platform, click here. Monday, May 25 Appreciation, surrender and generosity Wednesday, May 27 The ten paramis: wisdom and energy Friday, May…
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ayala Gill – Week of 10 November, 2025
We are delighted to have Ayala Gill guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these sessions support and enrich your practice.
This week’s theme is: Three Jewels: Love, Truth, Belonging
We will explore the “Three Jewels” of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha through the immediate, embodied experience of love. By diving into the felt sense of this moment, we discover the precious refuge of love, truth and belonging.
Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.
-
Transforming the poisons.
Recorded :
October 4, 2015 Buddha points out the three main ways we get pulled into activity and self-contraction – Greed, Hatred and Delusion – which Martin often translates as Desire, Defense and Distraction. This class explores creative ways of meeting these forces in everyday life, and explores powerful reflections for each of the three.
-
Communication, Clarity and Consequences
Recorded :
September 30, 2018 Everything that we write matters. Everything that comes out of our mouth matters. Important communications require calm and insightful reflection afterwards. Wisdom and Liberation of the voice support each other. Clear communication with another (spoken or written) expresses itself freely from the extremes of positivity and negativity. The middle way shows itself in exploration of…
-
Change the story, change your life
Recorded :
June 25, 2017 We live our lives through stories – about the world, and about ourselves. You may have noticed these stories surfacing in awareness in your meditation practice. We often cling to these stories as being “true”, yet holding this wrong view conceals that these stories are impermanent, cause suffering, and ultimately, are not personal. In this…
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nirmala Werner – Week of May 27 – 31, 2024
This week’s topic is “Mindfulness of the nervous system: transforming fear, struggle and separation into love and connection”. We humans are social animals and need each other to feel safe and secure, to grow and to nourish ourselves. How can we live with a sense of connection, loving-kindness, and inner family? Our meditation practice allows us to take a break between stimulus and response. When we come into contact with our loved ones, we all too easily lose the inner freedom we think we have achieved and avoid our difficulties, also called spiritual bypassing. This week we explore what supports us to react flexibly to the internal and external world, to relax and to allow closeness and real intimacy. We will look into the first foundation of mindfulness, mindfulness of the body, including harmonizing the body formations and nervous system to meet our difficulties with gentleness.
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Leela Sarti – Week of April 18, 2022
This week’s theme is “Timeless Presence in Daily Life: Being Yourself, Being at Home”. This week we will be exploring the possibility of being grounded in the depth of timeless presence in the midst of daily life. How to live a full life from silence and emptiness? How can we feel at home in our own skin and in the very circumstances of our life? How can we awaken an awareness and a heart that embraces life, dukkha and beyond? The grace of presence reveals the possibility of settling in reality and living with ease.
Discussion